from urbanism to planning to urban project

17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO
URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT
OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH
PLANS AND PROJECTS
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
University of Zaragoza
Spanish urbanismo evolved from the late rise of the discipline, at the beginning of the 20th century, to the consolidation of planning in the1950s
and 1960s. In its origins, it payed special attention to urban forms, but in the years of exceptional economic development – 1950s-1970s – planning
became more abstract, because of the dissociation between the scales of the comprehensive plan and the more specific definition of layouts and
architecture, which remained in the background. Since the end of the 1970s, the functionalist urbanism gave way to a renovated ‘architectural
urbanism’, again more concerned with architectural quality of urban forms. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the recurrent, complex and
sometimes contradictory ways of recovering and updating that early Spanish urbanismo which produced some of the most interesting urban
tissues. We refer especially to some plans and projects corresponding to three time periods with different levels of integration among them,
focusing on three Spanish cities, which can be understood as paradigmatic exemplars: Madrid, Barcelona, and Zaragoza. Of course, this doesn’t
mean that the forms and tools of the, in the words of Peter Hall, ‘lost art of urbanism’, have been recovered literally. Rather, we identify in this
philosophy of integrating architecture and planning an important principle of a true high quality urbanism.
Keywords
urbanismo, urbanism, planning, urban project, urbanity, Spain
How to Cite
Monclus Fraga, Javier; Diez Medina,Carmen. “From Urbanism to Planning to Urban Project — The pursuit of ‘urbanity’ in Spanish plans and
projects”. In Carola Hein (ed.) International Planning History Society Proceedings, 17th IPHS Conference, History-Urbanism-Resilience, TU Delft 17-21
July 2016, V.04 p.023, TU Delft Open, 2016.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
V.04 P.023
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
INTRODUCTION
Is there a specifically Latin culture of urbanisme? Why should we presume some specificities of Spanish
urbanism? Anthony Sutcliffe, one of the godfathers of planning history, referred to “a specifically Latin culture
of urbanisme, which is used to contextualize both planning and architecture”1. In fact, the history of planning
and urban design reveals the existence of different traditions, as Donatella Calabi has also recognized: “there’s no
doubt that there are different academic traditions in various countries, in which, for example, the relationships
between planning history, urban history and architectural history are different”2. However, in the case of Spanish
urbanismo and Italian urbanistica it is important to note that even if the Latin cultural model is generally
accepted, the lack of translations in English of the extensive literature on Spanish and Italian Planning History3
had led to a significant loss of information. This makes difficult the understanding of the specificities of both
particular academic traditions, hindering its inclusion in a wider debate about Planning History. Placing Spanish
planning historiography within a comparative context is important to understand the characteristics of modern
urban planning in Spain4.
EMERGENCE AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MODERN URBAN PLANNING:
COEXISTENCE OF PARADIGMS (1910S-40S)
Spanish modern urbanismo evolved from the late rise of the discipline, at the beginning of the 20th century, to
the consolidation of planning in the1950s and 1960s. In its origins, during the first decades of the century, it was
influenced first by the French School of Urbanisme (EFU) and later by German Städtebau. The fact that these
both approaches payed special attention to urban forms could explain that they had larger presence in Spanish
urbanismo – a discipline with a long tradition on what it is called now ‘urban architecture’5 – than the British ‘town
planning’.
It is important to note that in Spain the emergence and institutionalization of modern urban planning arrived
later than in UK or Germany, due to the slow process of industrialization of the country. Some Spanish authors
have written about this late rise of modern planning6. The incorporation of this new discipline into the schools’
of architecture curricula have significantly become a field of research. The subject Trazado, Urbanización y
Saneamiento de Poblaciones (with echoes to Cerdà’s concepts) was taught for the first time at the School of Madrid
in 1914. In the 1920s a new name was adopted: Urbanología. And a similar process took place at the School of
Barcelona7.
This delay in the emergence of a modern discipline of urban planning did not, however, prevent from international
transfer and disciplinary interchanges, which took place through courses, seminars, conferences, articles,
exhibitions and specialized journals8. Regarding international models in Spain and also in Italy, it is noteworthy
that during the first decades of the 20th century the impact of the French School of Urbanisme (EFU) was more
significant than the influence of the British ‘town planning’, even if some contributions to international planning
conferences by Unwin, Abercrombie and other planners were translated in the 1920s (Terán, 1978). Following
the French tradition, some Beaux-Arts plans were developed in several Spanish cities. They were made in
correspondence to the opening of grandes vías, and monumental urban spaces, echoing the ‘Paris model’ and the
City Beautiful movement9.
Besides this cultural impact of the EFU, the German notion of Städtebau exerted in Spain an increasing influence.
The term had emerged at the turn of the 20th century, already with Stübben homonymous 1890 handbook, but
acquired a more precise meaning some years later, almost at the same time than the concept of Stadtplan (Collins,
1965: 120-121, 146). Camillo Sitte’s theories about Städtebaukunst (artistic urban planning) appeared within this
framework, between 1880 and 1930, together with other similar approaches. An extensive historiography echoes
V.04 P.024
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
the reaction which came against the ‘pragmatic engineering urbanism’ and the consequent dissemination of
Stübben’s and Sitte’s theories10. This literature also shows how French tradition coexisted for some time with
German Städtebau, being progressively replaced by the latter, which was increasingly dominant in planning
thought since the beginning of the 20th century.
Some plans of the first decades of the 20th century exemplify the prevalence in Spain of this urbanism based on the
reference of Civic Art11 and especially attentive to urban forms and architectural quality. In this paper we will focus
on three Spanish cities, which can be understood as paradigmatic exemplars: Madrid, a capital city; Barcelona,
an industrial city; and Zaragoza, a medium-size city. Regarding the plans that characterize this first moment of
Spanish urbanismo, we could mention following examples:
In Madrid, after the 19th century city extension, a specific concern for urban forms can be recognized in some
planned interventions, such as the opening of the Gran Vía first and also some years later, even in some modern
plans and projects of the 1920s and 1930s. They prove how formal visions and functional principles were
synthesized and adapted to a specific Spanish urban planning tradition. Remarkable is the collaboration between
S. Zuazo and the German planner H. Jansen in the important international competition for the Madrid Extension
Plan of 1929. This is an example of the way Städtebau influence was relevant even in the advent of modernist
urban planning12. Zuazo-Jansen’s Plan incorporates international functionalist urban tenets, without overlooking
to take special care to specific urban conditions.
In Barcelona, the case of Jaussely’s Plan (1905) is an exceptional example that deserves a careful reading Despite
its large scale, it shows a sort of ‘artistic urbanism’, not only as a reaction to the monotony of Cerdà’s Extension,
but also as a way of introducing some formalist concepts, together with functionalist components, associated
to the French School of Urbanism. Actually, this School, which had deep roots on the social studies and the
Musée Social, with M. Poëte as pioneer of the ‘Science of villes’, combined ‘Beaux Arts layouts’ with functionalist
interventions related to modern circulation issues, which had Henard and other urban planners as referents13.
Jaussely’s Plan worked only as a reference in the planning strategies of the 1920s. In the 1930s the Plan Maciá
stood out as remarkable example of a new functionalist planning, even if it didn’t have a significant impact on
urban development14.
In Zaragoza, a new urban extension plan was implemented, again by S. Zuazo, in 1928-1930s, almost at the same
time than the plan for Madrid15. In this case, formal layouts combine with a hierarchical and functional system of
avenues and streets, with diversity of blocks and housing typologies, as an example of urbanism concerned with
the design of urban forms.
The specificity of these plans, among others Spain, is that they were conceived in continuity with the existent city
(in a similar way than Berlage’s Amsterdam Zuid plan, for instance). They are paradigmatic examples of a way of
understanding urbanism in Spain, a discipline that since the first decades of the 20th century reached a high urban
quality level, influenced first by the plans of the French school of urbanism and later by the German artistic urban
planning and preserving this quality and care for urban forms even in the advent of modern functionalism.
V.04 P.025
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
FIGURE 1 Barcelona: Jaussely Plan (1907)
FIGURE 2 2. Zaragoza: Zuazo-Ribas-Navarro Plan (1928)
V.04 P.026
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
PLANNING AND ACCELERATED URBAN GROWTH (1950S-1970S)
OR THE LOSS OF THE “ART OF URBANISM”
In Spain, as in other European countries, the rise of urban planning in the first decades of the 20th century was
followed by the emergence of modernist urban design tenets and the new paradigm of the ‘functional city’. The
Athens Charter principles (drafted in CIAM IV, 1933, and published in 1943), were applied after the World War
II often by means of their vulgate, It was from that moment on that they had a real impact. Planning became
more abstract, because of the dissociation between the scales of the comprehensive plan and the more detailed
definition of specific layouts and architecture, which remained in the background. Instead, zoning became
the main planning tool, the definition of urban spaces was made according to the universal principles of ‘open
urbanism’, etc. The Athens Charter became the undisputed reference to design the new housing estates built
in those years of exceptional economic development known as desarrollismo age (developmentalism). Besides
this, the progressive complexity and autonomy of the new cars and transport infrastructures favored the shift
from urbanism to planning, a discipline with its own rules and expertise, far from the Spanish tradition of ‘urban
architecture’.
According to international historiography, the ‘golden age of planning’ seems to have become consolidated during
an economic upswing period: the great boom of the 1950s and 1960s that lasted until the oil crisis of 1973. In this
period of spectacular urban growth postwar legislation was for several decades the basic framework for regulating
urban development in most of the European advanced countries. This was also the case of Spain, even if the
system was less effective in practice than in theory. A foundational law such as the Ley del suelo (Land and Urban
Planning Act) of 1956 was the main legislative instrument of that period, a subject that has been widely examined
along with the story of the explosive urban growth in Spanish cities during this period16.
It is interesting to note that in an early stage of transition, during the 1940s and up until the mid-1950s, modernist
urbanism coexisted with new versions of Civic Art or renewed ways of understanding urban architecture. If
‘modern Townscape’ was trying to integrate planning and architecture in UK17, in Spain similar intentions can
be found in some plans and projects where architectural urbanism was still the main concern, as a look back
over some planning handbooks and specialized planning publications shows18. The attachment to monumentalism
of Franco dictatorship’s rhetoric also contributed in a certain way to maintain the linkage to the tradition of
academicism and, therefore, to architectural urbanism. However, these attempts to shape new urban forms
according to the ideology of the regime were not determining experiences19. In short, Spain followed modernity
in urbanism, but the tradition of architectural urbanism and the semantic monumentality of the regime also
converged in the urbanism of that period.
Some examples of the progressive change in contents and strategies can be found in every Spanish city, starting
with the capital. In Madrid, in the early 1940s the so called Plan Bidagor (1941-1946) was still an attempts to give
an image of an Imperial City. But we could also find continuities with the plans of the Republican period, both
in the willingness to modernize the urban structure and in the attention payed to ‘urban facades’ and the city’s
appearance. Actually, Bidagor’s plan followed Zuazo-Jansen’s 1929 extension plan and 1939 regional plan, both
from the Republican period20. The big shift came in the 1960s, when a new ‘generation of plans’ arrived, known
as ‘development plans’, as a reply to rapid urban growth. The Plan General de Ordenación del Área Metropolitana
de Madrid (General Town Planning of Madrid metropolitan area) of 1963 is a clear example. Plans for sectors or
‘partial plans’ were a further complement for developing the sectors or polígonos (mass housing estates) of the
General Plan. They worked as useful tools for speculation, since they allowed increasing building levels, which lead
to high densification processes in extension areas and in new peripheries21.
V.04 P.027
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
FIGURE 3 Barcelona: La Mina and Sudoeste del Besós housing estates (1969)
FIGURE 4 Zaragoza: General Master Plan Larrodera (1968)
V.04 P.028
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
In Barcelona, the loss of the ‘art of urbanism’ was also gradual. The Plan comarcal (Regional plan) of 1953 was
the base for the new urban extensions. At the beginning, efforts were made to carefully control urban growth,
especially in two areas: Levante (East) and Poniente (West). However, as in other Spanish cities, those partial plans
“increased densities without a corresponding provision of public facilities—at times preempting spaces dedicated
to public facilities (…) even approving housing estates without preliminary partial planning”22. The layout of new
roads and streets became progressively more and more autonomous from the residential blocks. At the same
time, the earlier ‘well planned’ polígonos de viviendas of the 1950s, more attentive to urban design, gave way to
‘an avalanche of low-quality architectural projects’ that characterized a large part of 1960s and 1970s modern
peripheries23.
In Zaragoza, the Plan of 1957 established also continuity with the ‘modern discourse on urbanism’ as it was
codified in the Athens Charter24. Even some illustrations were taken from the vanguard’s literature of the 1930s25.
But in this case plans for a controlled urban development were again overpassed by the real processes of urban
growth (the goal of the plan was 500.000 inhabitants for the year 2000 but the city reached this mark already in
1975 (540.308 inhabitants). Another plan was approved in 1968, with much more ambitious goals. Also in this case,
the focus on zoning the urban structure contrasted with the low attention payed to ‘partial plans’, which were
thought more following quantitative parameters (housing densities, standards for facilities, etc.)26.
The impact of those plans was positive in some cases, since they helped to structure urban growth. However,
controlling urban forms was another issue27 that required a higher degree of integration of the various scales of
the project. On the contrary, in this period the dissociation between comprehensive plans and urban project, that
demanded more attention for layouts and architecture, was drastic. In a sense, it could be said that the ‘golden age
of planning’ came at the costs of the ‘lost art of urbanism’.
FROM COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECTS:
THE PURSUIT OF URBANITY
Since the end of the 1970s the predominance of the functionalist urbanism gave way to a renovated ‘architectural
urbanism’, once again more concerned with architectural quality of urban forms. This kind of urban approach
materialized in the so-called ‘urban projects’ that acquired a clear predominance over the previous general plans
based in rigid zoning tenets. Somehow, this resulted in a paradigm shift that helped to recover and reaffirm a
specific urban culture, which since the beginning of the century had tended to develop an urbanism closely linked
to architecture and urban landscape. This design-oriented and strategic approach to urban planning, associated
to social and economic goals, can be seen as a clear innovation with roots on the tradition of Spanish urbanism28.
Integration between urbanism and architecture was a key strategy in the pursuit of urbanity, despite the
complexity of this term29.
During the 1970s and 1980s, a sort of ‘reformist urbanism’, which was first theorized in Italy by left-wing urban
planners, began to gain strength. The emergence of the new urban projects should be understood in a context
of generalized reactions to the modernist functionalist urban planning, but also as a way of recovering and
developing the strong and best traditions of what began to be called ‘quality urbanism’. Recent planning history
research shows that, as happened in other periods, the impact of urban planning in Spanish cities since the 1980s
has been ambivalent30. On one hand, low quality ‘standardized planned piecemeal disasters’ as well as large urban
sprawl processes have led to a huge increase of land consumption and the destruction of urban and natural
landscapes, especially in seafronts and touristic cities. Nevertheless, the recovery of old historical centers and the
modernization of cities through the creation of quality public spaces, infrastructures and new facilities has been
the rule, exactly the opposite as what happened in the former period.
V.04 P.029
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
The organization of some international events, such as the 1992 Olympic Games (Barcelona) or the International
Exhibitions (1992 Seville, 2008 Zaragoza) worked as urban planning and design laboratories that brought with
them important structural transformations. Urban projects and landscape urbanism were paradigmatic in this
sort of strategic urban planning31. It’s true that private developers were increasingly responsible in shaping the
new peripheries. But it would be a mistake to believe that planning was weak – or not relevant – in those years
because of the emergence of urban projects. On the contrary, it may be said that the intense transformation
that has deeply changed the shape of Spanish cities since the 1980s up to the crisis of 2008 has been the result of
numerous planned interventions – often consisting in large-scale projects – which were responsible of the general
improvements of cities, especially of the inner peripheries
Maybe the best example of that ‘reformist urbanism’ was the Madrid plan of 1985. Using quite conventional
planning tools, but with detailed local scale developments, the Madrid plan activated a relevant process of urban
improvement and regeneration of its extensive peripheries32. The General plan of 1985 included also detail
urban projects. Moreover, some of the best urban projects that have changed the shape of the capital city were
implemented in the last two decades. Integration between urbanism and architecture was a key strategy in the
pursuit of urbanity. The works to expansion the Atocha station, and also the extensions of several museums such
as Prado, Reina Sofía or Thyssen, for instance, were part of a wider plan of improvement and requalification of
public spaces, such as the axis Prado-Recoletos. At the same time, the “new urban extensions” recovered the
morphology of traditional urban blocks, with avenues and squares, even if they lack the “urban intensity” of old
19th century Ensanche (city extension)33.
The ‘Barcelona model’ is a paradigmatic example of this sort of new urban strategies. Again, a General
Metropolitan Plan (GMP), approved in 1976, was the main basis for developing urban projects in Barcelona since
the 1980s. Of course, the economic upswing period that started on mid-nineties was not the only factor that
made possible the development of those strategic projects. However, it helps to understand the transformation
processes that the city experimented within the frame of the 1992 Olympic Games: projects changed from small
piecemeal interventions in the 1980s to large-scale urban projects in the 1990s34. In this sense, it is meaningful
the way Barcelona’s urbanism was received by the professional UK milieu. In 1999 Barcelona was awarded the
prestigious Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). It was the first time that a place
– instead of professionals – was awarded. The prize intended to recognize and value the city’s “commitment
to urbanism over the last twenty years” including its “mix of eye-catching landmark projects, small scale
improvements to plazas and street corners, and the team work between politicians and urbanists.” Two types
of urban interventions were thus remarked, from small to large-scale strategic urban projects, both of them
associated to different periods of urban renovation and improvement35.
Zaragoza planning followed the trend of ‘corrective’ or ‘reformist’ plans – somehow in the line of the ‘Madrid
model’ – and got a new general plan in 1986. Thanks to this plan together with the impulse of the socialist council,
several actions were implemented, with more control of urban growth, building of new facilities, preservation of
natural surroundings, improvement of urban spaces in the historic city center, etc.36. The attention to urban forms
through urban projects was one of the most important issues regarding residential areas37. Again, the last upswing
cycle from the mid-nineteenths until the crisis of 2008 had an ambivalent impact: it led to the construction of new
facilities, infrastructures and a renovated system of open spaces along with a new wave of suburbanization and
land occupation at metropolitan scale.
V.04 P.030
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
FIGURE 5 Madrid: Old Ensanche and new extensions (1980-1990s)
FIGURE 6 Barcelona: plans and urban projects (1992-2000)
V.04 P.031
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
To sum up, a new period highlighted by the willingness of recovering a ‘lost’ urban culture succeeded the
previous modernist urban experiences. The conciliation between architecture and urbanism that had been a
distinguishing feature of Spanish urbanismo since the origins of the discipline allowed reinterpreting the tradition
of ‘architectural urbanism’ at different scales, from small urban projects to large strategic projects. The pursuit of
urbanity that characterized the last decades of the 20th century followed sometimes contradictory ways, swinging
from old models to new experimental plans and projects.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In the last decades substantial transformations are changing the features of the so-called Mediterranean compact
city model, among them the loss of urban quality in the new peripheries. Those processes have led to explore
other ways of urbanism, sometimes looking to old traditions. If we want to understand the complex and often
contradictory ways of recovering and updating an early Spanish urbanismo – the one that produced some of
the most interesting and qualified urban tissues – more specific research is needed. We had referred especially
to some carefully plans and projects characterized by their high levels of urbanity. Of course, this doesn’t mean
that the forms and tools of the, in the words of Peter Hall,‘ lost art of urbanism’, have been be recovered directly.
Rather, we mean that this philosophy of integrating architecture and planning has been seen an important
principle of a true high quality urbanism.
As happen in other countries, only some urban planners realize that aesthetic values are a main part of the
discipline of urban planning in Spain38. In any case, the analysis of urban planning and design with a wide
historical perspective should be useful not only for better understanding past planning episodes in Spanish
cities, but also for allowing us to learn what is valid and also what is already obsolete in modern urban planning.
The pursuit of that “quality urbanism” is not only a matter of economy and urban policy, but also a matter of
recovering the own tradition of good urbanism39.
V.04 P.032
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Acknowledgements
The conceptualization of this article was stimulated by the Delft Planning History Workshop held in June 2015 to which the authors were kindly
invited. The paper relates to the chapter in the book Routledge Planning History Handbook, edited by Carola Hein (forthcoming).
Notes on contributors
Javier Monclús Fraga. Dr. Architect (ETSA, Barcelona). Full Professor of Urbanism at the Architecture Department of the EINA (School of Engineering and Architecture, University of Zaragoza, Spain), where he is now Chair of the Department of Architecture. Professor of Urbanism at the
Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona (1980-2005). He was previously a planner and worked with the Consortium Zaragoza Expo 2008
(2005-2009). He is member of the Editorial Board of Planning Perspectives and was the 11th International Planning History Society’s (IPHS) Conference Convenor (Barcelona 2004). He is interested in urban projects, landscape urbanism, planning history and theories of urbanism.
Carmen Díez Medina. Architect (ETSA, Madrid, 1988). Ph.D. (TU Wien, 1996). Associate Professor of Theory and Architectural History at the
Architecture Department of the EINA (School of Engineering and Architecture, University of Zaragoza, Spain), where she is in charge of the
architectural history and theory disciplines and coordinator of the Ph.D. Program “New Territories in Architecture”. Collaborating architect at
Nigst, Hubmann&Vass (Viena, 1998-94) and at Rafael Moneo (Madrid,1996-2001). Research Projects: “Espacios para la enseñanza”, CEU (2012-14);
“Paisajes residenciales urbanos”, EINA (2010-11); “La construcción de la ciudad liberal”, UPM (2008-09); “España en los CIAM”, CEU (2007-08).
Both authors are responsible of the research Project “Urban Regeneration of Housing Estates in Spain” (http://pupc.unizar.es/urhesp/).
Bibliography
Auzelle, R., Jankowic, I., Enciclopedie de l’urbanisme, París: Ed. Vicent, 1947-1959
Bidagor, P., “Situación general del urbanismo en España”, in Arquitectura n. 62, 1964
Brunner, K., Manual de Urbanismo, Bogotá: IM, 1939-1940
Calabi, D., “Editorial. Thirty Years On”, in Planning Perspectives, vol. 30, n. 1, 2015
_. “Italy”, in Wynn, M. (ed.), Planning and urban growth in Southern Europe. London: Mansell, 1984
Calavita, N., Ferrer, A., “Behind Barcelona’s success story. Citizen Movements and Planners’ Power”, Journal of Urban History, Vol. 26 No. 6, September 2000
Campos Venuti, G., La terza generazione dell’urbanistica. Milan: FrancoAngeli, 1987
Cohen, J.L., L’architecture urbaine selon Pierre Lavedan”, Les Cahiers de la Recherche Architecturale, 32-33, 1993
Choay, F., L’urbanisme, utopies et réalités. Une anthologie (1965). Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1979
Collins, C. R., Collins, C., “Camillo Sitte and the Birth of Modern City Planning” (1965), Phaidon Press.
Coudroy de Lille, L.,, Vaz, C., Vorms, Ch. (dir.), L’urbanisme espagnol depuis les années 1970: La ville, la démocratie et le marché. Rennes : Presses
universitaires de Rennes, 2013
De las Rivas, J.L., “Spain”, in S. Loew (ed.). Urban Design Practice. An International Review. London: RIBA, 2012
De Miguel, R., Metamorfosis urbana en Zaragoza, Biblio 3W, XIX, 1083 (www.ub.edu/geocrit/b3w-1083.htm accessed 5.07.2015)
Díez Medina, C. “La influencia centroeuropea y la Ley Salmón (1927-36)”, in Sambricio, C. (ed.)., Un siglo de vivienda social (1903-2003), vol. I, Madrid: Nerea 2003; “El modelo vienés”; “Barrio de la Estrella”, vol. II.
Díez Medina, C., Monclús, J., “On urbanity and urban forms. Some remarks on modernist urbanism’s legacy”, in Folli M. G. (ed.), Urbanity. Possible
Future for Ukrainian Cities, Milan, 2016 (forthcoming).
Espuche, A., Guàrdia, M., Monclús, J., Oyón, J.L., “Modernization and urban beautification: The 1888 Barcelona world’s fair”, in Planning Perspectives n. 6, 2, 1991
Ezquiaga, J.M., «Densidades», in Calatrava, S., Díez, C., Guerrero, S., Lampreave, R., (eds.), Otra historia. Estudios sobre arquitectura y urbanismo en
honor de Carlos Sambricio, Madrid: Lampreave, 2015
Ferrer, A., Els poligons de Barcelona, Barcelona: UPC, 1996
_. The undeserved credit of the housing estate.” In AA.VV., Contemporay Barcelona 1856-1999. Barcelona: CCCB, 1996
García Bellido, A., et al., Resumen histórico del urbanismo en España. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios de Administración Local, 1954
García González, C., “Cesar Cort y la cultura urbanística de su tiempo”, in Cuadernos de Investigación Urbanística n. 87, 2013
Gravagnuolo, B., La progettazione urbana in Europa. 1750-1960. Bari: Laterza, 1994
Guàrdia, M., Monclús, F. J., J.L.Oyón (dir.). 1994. Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas, vol. I Península Ibérica, Barcelona: CCCB-Salvat; 1996. vol. II
Francia, Barcelona-París: CCCB-Salvat-Hachette
Hall, P. Cities of Tomorrow: An Intellectual History of Urban Planning and Design Since 1880, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1988, 1996, 2002; London:
Wiley-Blackwell (4ht edition rev. ed. 2014)
_.Good Cities, Better Lives: How Europe Discovered the Lost Art of Urbanism. London: Routledge, 2013
Hebbert, M., “Town Planning Versus Urbanismo”, in Planning Perspectives 21 vol. 3, 2006
Hebbert, M., Sonne, W., “History Builds the Town: On the Uses of History in Twentieth-century City Planning”, in Monclús, J. and Guardia, M. (ed.),
Culture, Urbanism and Planning. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006
Jürgens, Oskar, Spanische Städte: Ihre bauliche Entwicklung und Ausgestaltung (1926). (Spanish ed.: Ciudades españolas: su desarrollo y configuración
urbanística. Madrid: Ministerio para las Administraciones Públicas, 1992)
Lampreave, R., Monclús, J., Bergera, I.i (eds.), La Gran Vía de Zaragoza y otras grandes vías. Madrid: Lampreave, 2010
Lampugnani, V. M., “Stadt oder Suburbia? Überlegungen zum bauen in der Peripherie / ¿Ciudad o suburbio? Reflexiones sobre construir en la
periferia Stadt oder Suburbia?, Zarch 3, 2015
López de Lucio, R., “Madrid 1979-1999. Perfiles de una transformación urbana desconocida”, in Urban n. 4, 2000
V.04 P.033
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
_. “Urban planning and spatial transformations in Madrid in the last two decades of 20th century. Structuration and reconstruction of an unfinished capital-city”, in Monclús, J., Guardia, M. (ed.), Planning Models and the Culture of Cities, IPHS 2004. Barcelona (http://www.etsav.upc.es/
personals/iphs2004/)
_. Vivienda colectiva, espacio público y ciudad. Evolución y crisis en el diseño de tejidos residenciales 1860-2010. Buenos Aires: Nobuko, 2013
Lortie, P., Paris s’exporte. Le modèle parisien à travers le monde. Paris: Picard, 1995
Marshall, T. (ed.), Transforming Barcelona: The Renewal of a European Metropolis. London: Routledge, 2004
Mas, R. “La promoción inmueble en España”, Ciudad y Territorio n. 107-108 (Siglo y medio de urbanismo en España), 1996
Maure, L. Secudino Zuazo, arquitecto. Madrid: COAM, 1987.
Monclús, J., “Planning and history in Spain”, Planning Perspectives n. 7 (1) 1992
_. “The Barcelona Model: an original formula? From ‘Reconstruction’ to Strategic Urban Projects (1979-2004)”, in Planning Perspectives n. 18 (4),
2003
_. “Arte urbano y estudios histórico-urbanísticos: tradiciones, ciclos y recuperaciones”, in Rev 3zu, 4, 1995.
_. “Barcelona 1992” in Gold, J.R. and Gold, M.M. (ed.), Olympic Cities. City Agendas, Planning and the World’s Games 1896-2012. London: Routledge,
2016 (2nd ed.)
_. International Exhibitions and Urbanism: The Zaragoza Expo 2008 project. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009
_. “International exhibitions and urban design paradigms”, in R. Freestone, M. Amati (eds.), Exhibitions and the development of Modern Planning
Culture. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014
Monclús, J., Díez, C., “Modernist Housing Estates in European Cities of the Western and Eastern Blocs: How different?, in Planning Perspectives vol.
31/4 (2015 online, 2016 print)
_. “Emergence, Obsolescence and Regeneration of European Housing Estates”, in Urban Regeneration (II), Proposals for Balsas de Ebro Viejo Housing
Estate, Zaragoza, Zaragoza, PUZ, 2015 13-35
_.”Urbanisme, Urbanismo, Urbanistica. Latin European Urbanism”, in Hein, C., Routledge Planning History Handbook. London: Routledge, 2016
(forthcoming)
Monclús, J., Guàrdia, M. (eds.), Culture, Urbanism and Planning, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006
Mumford, E., The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press., 2000
Pendlebury, J., “Thomas Sharp and the modern townscape”, Planning Perspectives, 24, 1, 2009
Piccinato, G. “A brief history of Italian town planning after 1945”, in Town Planning Review 81 (3) Centenary paper, 2010.
Portas, N., “L’emergenza del progetto urbano”, in Urbanistica n. 110 (Spanish ed.: “El surgimiento del proyecto urbano”, in Perspectivas urbanas /
Urban Perspectives n.3, 2003
Ramos, M., “Evolución del tejido residencial de Zaragoza. 1908-2008”. In MARCO, R. y BUIL, C. (eds.). Zaragoza 1908-2008. Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Zaragoza: Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Zaragoza, 2009
Ribas Piera, M., “La planificación urbanística en España”, in Zodiac n. 15, 1965 Roch, F., Hernández Aja, A. (eds.) , De Gerencia de Urbanización a
SEPES, medio siglo de historia: presencia en las publicaciones profesionales. Madrid: SEPES, 2009
Rovira, J.M., “Barcelona”, in AA.VV., Atlas of the Functional City. Ciam 4 and Comparative Urban Analysis. Zurich: Thoth et Verlag, 2014.
Sambricio, C., (ed.), Arturo Soria y el urbanismo europeo de su tiempo, 1894-1994: primer centenario de la Compañía Madrileña de Urbanización. Madrid: Fundación Cultural COAM, 1996
_. “La Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid y la construcción de la ciudad”, in Madrid y sus arquitectos. 150 años de la Escuela de Arquitectura. Madrid:
Comunidad de Madrid, 1996
_. (ed.) Un siglo de vivienda social, Madrid: Nerea, 2003
_. Plan Bidagor, 1941-1946, Madrid: Neream 2003
Sáinz, V., El Proyecto urbano en España. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla, 2006
Sevilla, A., “Urbanism and dictatorship: perspectives of the field of urban studies“, in Bodenschatz, H., Sassi, P., Welch, M. (eds.), Urbanism and
Dictatorship: A European Perspective, Berlin-Basel, 2015
Solá Morales, I., “Werner Hegemann y el Arte Cívico”, in Werner Hegemann, Elbert Peets, Arte Cívil, Barcelona: Caja de Arquitectos, 1993
_. “Hacer ciudad, hacer arquitectura (1945- 1993)”, in Dethier, J., Guiheux, A. (ed.), Visiones Urbanas. Europa 1870-1993. La ciudad del artista. La
ciudad del arquitecto. Barcelona: CCCB-Electa, 1994
Solá-Morales, M., “Epílogo: la frustración del urbanista”, en A. Ferrer (ed.), Urbanismo municipal en España, Papers: Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona, 43, 2005,
Sutcliffe, A., Towards the Planned City. Germany, Britain, the United States and France, 1780-1914. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981
_. “Foreword” to Almandoz, A. (ed.), Planning Latin America’s capital cities 1850-1950. London: Routledge, 2002
Terán, F., Planeamiento urbano en la España contemporánea: historia de un proceso imposible, Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1978
_. “Evolución del pensamiento urbanístico (1846-1996)”, in Ciudad y Territorio n. 107-108 (“Siglo y medio de urbanismo en España”), 1996
_. Historia del urbanismo en España III. Siglos XIX y XX. Madrid: Cátedra,1999
Torres Capell, M., “Barcelona: planning problems and practices in the Jaussely era, 1900-1930”, in Planning Perspectives n. 7 (2) 1992
Ward, S., Planning the Twentieth Century City: The Advanced Capitalist World. London: John Wiley. 2002
Wynn, M. (ed.), Planning and urban growth in Southern Europe, London: Mansell, 1984
Zucconi, G. (a cura di), Camillo Sitte e i suoi interpreti. Milan: FrancoAngeli, 1992
V.04 P.034
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC
17th IPHS Conference, Delft 2016 | HISTORY URBANISM RESILIENCE | VOLUME 04 Planning and Heritage |
Politics, Planning, Heritage and Urban Space | Planning History
Image Sources
Figure 1: Author’s private collection.
Figure 2: Guàrdia, M., Monclús, F. J., J.L.Oyón (dir.), Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas, vol. I Península Ibérica, Barcelona: CCCB-Salvat, 1994.
Figure 3: Guàrdia, M., Monclús, F. J., J.L.Oyón (dir.), Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas, vol. I Península Ibérica, Barcelona: CCCB-Salvat, 1994.
Figure 4: Guàrdia, M., Monclús, F. J., J.L.Oyón (dir.), Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas, vol. I Península Ibérica, Barcelona: CCCB-Salvat, 1994.
Figure 5: Author’s private collection.
Figure 6: Author’s private collection.
Endnotes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
V.04 P.035
Sutcliffe, “Foreword”.
Calabi, “Editorial. Thirty Years On”.
Piccinato, G. “A brief history of Italian town planning after 1945”.
Monclús, J., Díez, C., “Urbanisme, Urbanismo, Urbanistica. Latin European Urbanism”.
See. J.L. Cohen, “L’architecture urbaine selon Pierre Lavedan”; see also Monclús, “Arte urbano y estudios histórico-urbanísticos: tradiciones,
ciclos y recuperaciones”.
Terán, Planeamiento urbano en la España contemporánea: historia de un proceso imposible; Sambricio, Arturo Soria y el urbanismo europeo de su
tiempo, 1894-1994.
García González, “Cesar Cort y la cultura urbanística de su tiempo”; Sambricio, Arturo Soria y el urbanismo europeo de su tiempo, 1894-1994
García González, “Cesar Cort y la cultura urbanística de su tiempo”.
Lortie 1995; Lampreave et al., La Gran Vía de Zaragoza y otras grandes vías.
Collins, Collins, “Camillo Sitte and the Birth of Modern City Planning”; Monclús, “Arte urbano y estudios histórico-urbanísticos: tradiciones, ciclos
y recuperaciones”; Calabi, “Italy”; Sambricio, Arturo Soria y el urbanismo europeo de su tiempo, 1894-1994; Torres Capell, “Barcelona: planning
problems and practices in the Jaussely era, 1900-1930”; Solà-Morales, “Werner Hegemann y el Arte Cívico”.
In the sense of Hegemann’s Civic Art.
Maure, Secudino Zuazo, arquitecto, 1987; Sambricio, Arturo Soria y el urbanismo europeo de su tiempo, 1894-1994.
Choay, L’urbanisme, utopies et réalités. Une anthologie.
Rovira, “Barcelona”.
Guàrdia, et al., Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas.
Terán, Planeamiento urbano en la España contemporánea: historia de un proceso imposible.
Pendlebury, J., “Thomas Sharp and the modern townscape”.
Just to mention two of them: Brunner, Manual de Urbanismo, Auzelle, Enciclopedie de l’urbanisme.
Sevilla, “Urbanism and dictatorship”
Sambricio, Un siglo de vivienda social.
Terán, Historia del urbanismo en España III. Siglos XIX y XX; Wynn, Planning and urban growth in Southern Europe; Lopez Lucio, “Urban planning and spatial transformations in Madrid”.
Calavita, Ferrer, “Behind Barcelona’s success story”.
Ferrer, “The undeserved credit of the housing estate”.
Mumford, The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960.
Guàrdia, et al., Atlas histórico de ciudades europeas.
Ramos, “Evolución del tejido residencial de Zaragoza. 1908-2008”.
De las Rivas, “Spain”.
Sainz, El Proyecto urbano en España.
An extensive literature on the concept of ‘urbanity’ has been produced from different disciplines in the last decades, especially in German
cultural world. Among the authors that have dealt with this subject should be mentioned: Edgar Salin, Hartmut Häu˟ermann, Walter Siebel,
Werner Durth, Peter Breitling, Hans Paul Bahrdt, Christoph Shneider, Thomas Würst, etc. A recent, impressive contribution is the monography by Wolfgang Sonne: Sonne, W., Urbanität und Dichte im Städtebau des 20. Jahrhunderts, Dom Publishers: Berlin, 2014 (Book review Díez
Meinda, C. in ZARCH, Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and Urbanism n. 6). See also Díez Medina, Monclús, “On urbanity and
urban forms. Some remarks on modernist urbanism’s legacy”.
Coudroy de Lille et al., L’urbanisme espagnol depuis les années 1970.
Monclús, International Exhibitions and Urbanism.
Lopez de Lucio, “Urban planning and spatial transformations in Madrid”.
Ezquiaga, “Densidades”.
Marshall, Transforming Barcelona: The Renewal of a European Metropolis.; Calavita, Ferrer, “Behind Barcelona’s success story”.
Monclús, “The Barcelona Model: an original formula?”.
Ramos, “Evolución del tejido residencial de Zaragoza. 1908-2008”.
De Miguel, “Metamorfosis urbana en Zaragoza”.
Solà-Morales, “Epilogo: la frustración del urbanista”.
Lampugnani, “Stadt oder Suburbia?”
Javier Monclús Fraga | Carmen Díez Medina
FROM URBANISM TO PLANNING TO URBAN PROJECT — THE PURSUIT OF ‘URBANITY’ IN SPANISH PLANS AND PROJECTS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2016.4.1279
TOC